Family Day 2012

There are many traditions that I love about being here in Mozambique and one of the best is the period of time when the Men have their week and special Sunday of recognition, the Women have their's, the Families have their's and the Children's week and Sunday recognition is coming up starting Monday.  Next week will be pointed towards celebrating children in the family.  Many families will serve the children's favorite food, buy a small gift or do a small task for the child to show them honor.

Today at the church in Dondo we are celebrating couples and their families.  It is so sweet to listen to the couples recite a few words of commitment before the family of God.  Every year there seems to be one or two more couples joining in on the tradition.  It is a good one, a time to reflect on the importance of husbands loving their wives and the wives respecting their husbands.

The church was full of people, packed actually, overflowing outside the doors and off of the veranda's.  There is always food share on this day as well to celebrate.  I can tell that the small piece of cake handed out first, was the only thing that many families had to eat this day and maybe yesterday too.  Not everyone has the money, (.72 cents) to buy lunch, many will leave hungry because they had no ticket.  Many will leave wishing their spouse was around to rededicate vows, many will leave hoping that one day their spouse will attend this important event in the life of the Dondo Baptist Church.

Today isn't like any other day here.  This Sunday we focused on what God has called the marriage to be.  One man and one woman, under the commitment  and headship of obedience to each other and God.  I trust God was glorified in the house today.

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Husbands and their wives came forward to show honor and respect to each other and renew their vows.
You can see John and Cindy Pieper on the right up front.

The church is blessing the the couples and their marriage.
And then the kiss!  This brings a lot of hoops and hollering! Even though the
 culture is very sexual, they are modest in their public display of affection.

Sparks handball Team presented a song and it was goooood!
I have had the privilege of watching many of these guys grow
into the godly men that they are today.

The dishes will soon be filled with the holiday special..... Spaghetti.
It smelled really good as I went back to hug the girls behind the scenes to
make sure everyone was fed.  Life is hard here but, oh so good!

Obedience,

Big Mamma